If you have enough 2 cup containers, it's most convenient to divide the dough into balls (1 ball per pizza) and store each dough in a container with 14 g (1 Tbsp) of oil.

If you don't have enough 2 cup containers, don't divide your dough into balls. Lightly oil a large bowl (it should be at least 3 times as large as the dough) and place the dough into it. Cover with plastic and proceed with rising. When ready to bake, lightly oil the top of the dough and gently dislodge it from the sides of the bowl. Turn the bowl upside down over a cutting board (or piece of foil) and let the dough drop. Don't pull -- try to keep the shape of the dough. Cut the dough into pieces and shape each one into a pizza. You'll need to add 14 g (1 Tbsp) oil onto the parchment paper for each pizza when shaping.

Rising schedule:

The goal is to double your dough in volume and to let it sit in the fridge overnight to develop flavor. How you accomplish this depends on the temperature of your kitchen and your personal schedule. I find that the easiest thing to do is to make this dough at night a few hours before I am going to bed. Within 1-2 hours it should start to rise and can be put in the fridge overnight and up to 5 days. But sometimes life intervenes and you won't be around in 1-2 hours after making the dough. In that case, put it in the fridge right away. At some point before baking, get it out of the fridge and allow it to double at room temperature. This might take a while as the dough won't start to rise until it warms back up, so plan on 3-4 hours.

23 comments:

Hi Helen:-)I used Active Dry Yeast in this recipe and did not dissolve it in water. Will this work? It's kind of rising .. Another thing is I do not have a pizza stone. Can I use a regular baking sheet or is this not going to work at 500 and a regular baking sheet.Thanks!Anna

It's a baking recipe, which means don't mess with it :) Active Dry Yeast is not the same thing as instant yeast. It needs to be bloomed and the amount is not the same. Unless you have a book that explains how to do this substitution, just don't go there. Buy SAF instant yeast. If you already made the dough, give it a shot, pizza is very forgiving because it's flat. You can preheat an inverted baking sheet instead of the stone, but it won't give you the same level of crispness.

I went ahead with my messed up recipe and it came out surprisingly well. I am sure my crust texture is not in the correct format but I topped it with canned tomatoes that I blended into a sauce, mozzarella, some kind of parmigiano-reggiano from Trader Joe's and basil and it's delicious. I promise to buy the correct yeast next time. Thank you very much Helen!! This is my first pizza ever. I tried it once before with a different recipe and the dough came out so gross looking I did not even bother to bake it. This recipe is so easy and it works very well.

I made the accident of using wax paper, instead of parchment paper.(Don't do it!) My goodness, the crust came out fabulous besides the paper sticking to it. Otherwise this is a fabulous dough recipe. I just have one question. Does the dough have to sit overnight? If you're pressed for time to make dinner, which is all the time for me, could I bake it when it rises in the first 2 hours? Thank you!

Yes, you can definitely bake it as soon as it doubles. The reason I recommend overnight is that the flavor will be a bit better (you might or might not notice depending on how flavorful the toppings are) and that I find it more convenient. I am terrible at doing something 2 hours before dinner ;) Since the dough can live in the fridge for up to 4 days (maybe even longer, but I've only tried up to 4), I make it whenever I see a pizza in my near future and then use it whenever convenient.

I'm having the same problem as the person above but when I used parchment paper, it stuck too! It still tastes amazing, but it's a bit of a pain to peel off the paper. Would foil be an appropriate substitute instead? Any ideas for sticky pizzas in general? Very tasty!

I have a feeling your paper is different from what I use. It's not the flimsy paper you get when buying pastries. Here is the parchment paper I use. I also want to make sure you are using oil when shaping. If anything, you'll have more trouble with foil. I use foil when grilling and then it does indeed stick. I have also had good results with Reynolds parchment paper available on amazon and at Target. If you are still having trouble with sticking, check my pizza grilling video for how to deal with pizza that sticks. It's a slightly different workflow.

haven't tried bread flour, but I don't think that will work as well as all-purpose. Bread flour will shrink back more as you try to stretch it out. At least that's my intuition. Of course, it might not be a problem because it's not kneaded much. Let me know if you try it.

Yes, you can definitely give whole wheat a try, but you might need to adjust the proportions. It also depends on how finely ground your whole where flour is. I would start by replacing 25% of all-purpose flour by weight with whole wheat and see how you like the results. And of course before you do that, you should make the recipe as is to know what things should look and feel like.

Hi Helen, thank you for your no-kneed pizza dough recipe. We made some for friends last week and the crust was awesome. As far as whole wheat flour I have not tried your recipe with it, but have done standard pizza dough with Montana Wheat's Praire Gold Whole Wheat Flour and it comes out great. That is not to say I do not prefer white flour, but the Montana Wheat solution is not a bad choice. Besides, a trip to Three Forks, Montana to get some could be quite an adventure. Just kidding, check your store and if not here's the Amazon link.http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Montana-Prairie-Flour-Pound/dp/B00D50EOJU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1423432162&sr=8-3&keywords=montana+wheat+white+whole+wheat+flour